


Tear Me Open

by Stujet9rainshine



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Accidental Mind Reading, Android Gavin Reed, Angst with a Happy Ending, Double Android AU, Drug Busts, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Guns, Love Confessions, M/M, Major Character Injury, Near Death Experiences, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:27:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stujet9rainshine/pseuds/Stujet9rainshine
Summary: Tell RK900 - Richard "Nines" You Love Him
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 8
Kudos: 141
Collections: Quiet Life Bingo Fills





	Tear Me Open

"You ready for this?" Gavin asked as he made sure to check the armour strapped onto his chest. He usually felt silly being an android that has to wear a bulletproof vest and other equipment made for human cops. Though he's learned to accept it along with all his other supposed rights that came with the android revolution. The vest wasn't even one he'd asked for personally. Tina was always so worried and after one too many bullets to his older and lightweight chassis that she insisted that he wore one. He couldn't tell her no after she threw a fit about it. It made him feel loved in a weird way.

"As I will ever be," Nines responded as he took it upon himself to check over Gavin's protective gear. Even going as far as to push Gavin's hands out of the way before fixing the straps meticulously himself. 

He found it strange when he first started at the Detroit Police Department that the small android dressed up like the human officers in all the ways he wouldn't expect. The human clothes and the leather jacket made sense as a way to blend in or create a personality. But the personal protective equipment made far more sense after Nines finally violated Gavin's once snarled,  _ 'Don't scan me.' _

Nines had seen the cracks and the repairs and old injuries, if they could even be called that, of his previous missions. Gavin wasn't made to fight, despite his rough exterior and personality.

Gavin watched silently as Nines fixed his vest. Nines had insisted on doing this because of his superior scanner, but Gavin wasn't convinced it wasn't a more personal reason. 

Nines' hands on Gavin's vest felt vaguely intimate. It was routine, it wasn't supposed to make Gavin feel warm inside, but Nines always put so much care into this. Like it was a task that really mattered. Like his safety actually mattered to the far more advanced android. It made him feel warm, but he tried not to dwell on those feelings too much. He knew Nines couldn't actually feel anything like that for his obsolete self despite it all.

Nines finally had the vest exactly how he wanted it, the way it was supposed to be. "There, it is now in the optimal position." He said as gently as he could, only letting his hands linger for a few moments before he pulled them back slowly. 

Gavin grunted as he resisted the urge to mess with the vest again, to fuck it up somehow. One to aggravate Nines playfully and the other was to make him fix it again. To make him have his hands on him again, but he decided against it. They had a mission to focus on and that felt dishonest somehow. He looked up at his taller companion. "What do you think about this bust?"

Nines looked down at the older model. "I am unsure as to why they have us being the ones to do it, considering neither of us is technically SWAT."

Gavin scoffed and rolled his eyes, "it's because we're androids, dumbass."

Nines blinked as his LED spun yellow. "I doubt that, Gavin."

"Well, you better start believing it, because we're good cops and if we break, like 90% of the time we can be put back together with little to no consequences. Humans can't do that shit," Gavin drew out. The most advanced android ever made his metal ass. He sure could be dense on mere principle. 

Nines' brain stuck on that 10% more often than it should. Though for him there was a 97.35% chance of any injury to his person being completely repairable. Gavin? Gavin only had a 78.9% chance of not having complications with an injury and the percent kept dropping every time he got hurt. He knew Gavin would tell him he was rambling and making mountains out of molehills if he brought up the numbers, so he just nodded curtly. "I just hope everything goes according to plan. Busts like these are often unpredictable."

Gavin snorted, "you're telling me."

Then as if on cue there was a beep in his brain as he and Nines were beckoned to the loading and briefing location. It was ten minutes until they hit the road to their sting location. 

Nines blinked back his focus from the unnecessary risk calculations. "Okay, let's go, Gavin. It's time for the briefing."

Gavin waved and hand and turned on his heel, "okay, follow me then Terminator."

Nines did.

~

The briefing had promised an easy mission. There were supposed to be around ten to fifteen people at most in the warehouse. It was a trade-off operation, where the suppliers were giving a very large shipment that was supposed to cross the borders into Canada. A few big names were supposed to be involved.

Overall it was also a big deal. The information and tip-off had come from a decently reliable source and some retcon had proved it to be facial enough for them to all be here. Now they just had to catch their drug lords and keep the truck from leaving. No big deal. 

Nines looked at the team that he was working with from where he was sitting. Like Gavin had predicted, it was a mostly android team with only a few high ranking humans from SWAT. He busied himself with reasoning over everyone's files. It was a team of the best the DPD had to offer and that provided Nines with some comfort that the department was taking such a high profile case seriously. 

Though the atmosphere was tense, they all knew what was at stake here. Nines felt his processors wandering to Gavin. He was paired with the other android, but as with most of their missions, he found himself worrying. He knew it was illogical to some degree. Nines knew that Gavin could take care of himself very well, but that niggle of fear about that 21.1% chance of losing him was still very much there. 

He mentally shook himself, now was absolutely not the time to get lost in the numbers. Humans took risks like this all the time in their field without the statistics. He just needed to ignore it and do his best and everyone would be safe. That's how these missions were supposed to go, and Nines was very good at accomplishing his missions. Just no one needed to know that  **Protect GV200 - Gavin** was one of high priority. 

Then before he could dwell on that further, the transport van slowed to a stop. Nines looked up their location and nodded as he realized they were in position. The inside of the van darkened all the way before it came to a complete stop. The androids on the team all quickly double checked that their LEDs were covered and the humans checked their gear. The motion settled down and then Captain Allen clicked the lock on the swinging doors of the van and then on his signal everyone moved out. 

Nines nodded to Gavin as they jumped out after the other occupants. They sent a message and then they were stealthing their way into position. 

Nines had Gavin's six as they pulled out their weapons. He scanned the area and he knew Gavin was doing the same. 

Seven heat signatures registered. Nines had been anticipating the full fifteen people or hell, more. But seven was very manageable if it stayed that way. He double-checked his surroundings and then opened up his communications network. 

_ 'I've got seven heat signatures,'  _ Nines said to his direct line to Gavin. The others were focused on the trade deal. Gavin and Nines were dealing with the muscle and covering the back.

Gavin nodded,  _ 'the same, but we both know that doesn't account for androids.' _

Nines sighed, Gavin was correct.  _ 'Though we have no evidence this gang has ever worked with any we should keep a lookout.' _

Gavin sent over the idea of a yes, though verbally Nines knew it would have been a grunt. He found that endearing, like always.

They continued forward, trying to get a visual. Nines kept his scanners going as they looked over some boxes, weapons in the ready position. 

The seven heat signatures turned out to be humans working on packing a few boxes. Nines' scans showed that it was a mix of Red Ice, Thirium, and other less of note narcotics. They didn't see any androids in the area, but very few got into the drug industry and those who did it turned on them very quickly. 

Nines and Gavin were now waiting for the signal that the truck had arrived for the hand off. They didn't want to tip the leadership off and go through all this trouble for a few lower-level lackeys. Sure, it was still getting crime off the streets, but not to the extent these missions were aiming for. 

Gavin and Nines stayed in waiting for a few more minutes, just watching and staying alert before they finally got the signal over their internal comms. 

Nines and Gavin nodded to each other before they stood up. It was go-time. This was a no mercy mission. Take whatever means necessary, minus taking lives of course. 

Nines and Gavin acted quickly and fired off several shots simultaneously. They were aiming for non-vital areas to cripple targets. Several of the people let out screams and shouts. 

"Detroit police, do not resist," Nines shouted in his authoritarian voice, it echoed across the small warehouse and everyone froze briefly. 

Then even more chaos erupted as people scrambled that could still manage to run. Nines quickly ran a priority scan to find the most vital perp to catch. Then after a millisecond he was locked on his perp and started the pursuit. 

He shot off like a hound on the smell of blood. The perp didn't stand a chance as crashed into them shoulder first. They lost their balance and crashed to the dry locked concrete. Nines had them cuffed and subdued within seconds. They hadn't stood a chance. 

Nines was back on his feet and after the next perp on his radar. Though he took a brief moment to check on Gavin. The other android was fine as he was also subduing a runner.

Nines took solace in that information and went back to his task. The next perp threw a few boxes and jumped to get away, proving to be a bit more a challenge than the last perp. 

Though Nines felt like something was off. This was going too well, it was definitely too quiet. No warnings had gone off and nothing in his scanners called for too much alarm so he just continued.

He caught the next perp just as they took a corner too fast and slipped just enough to give Nines a firm edge. He caught them and slammed them down into the pavement, but then cuffed them with no unneeded extra force. 

He grabbed them by the cuffs kicking and screaming back to the opening and left them within view. 

Nines continued to scan the area and noticed exactly three of their perps had managed to get out of their visual realm. "Fuck," Nines muttered to himself. 

Then the expected mental alarms went off and he turned to what had caused the proximity alert. When he saw it his eyes widened. 

It was a custom made weapon. Nines' scans indicated that it was some sort of small RPG, specifically it was an anti-android weapon. That could even do his reinforced chassis some damage. He needed to act quickly if he was going to protect his team and his partner. 

He made a move towards the person aiming the gun and he sensed the click of the safety before his audio sensors picked it up. He hoped he would be able to dodge this. He was sure it was just going to be a large bullet instead of an explosive, but he couldn't be too careful. These people fully believed this gave them the upper hand. 

Nines made a small step forward to see what would happen. He noticed the person's finger went to the trigger. They were ready to fire. His scans indicated he only had seconds to react.

Just as he was going to charge he heard a commotion and another distinct clicking noise. There was another gun. But before he could locate it something slammed into his side. Then the small explosive noise of the two guns firing off happened all at once. 

Nines took longer than he should have to realize it was Gavin that had slammed into him and even longer to realize that only one of the bullets had missed them. The other was currently buried into the chassis of Gavin's back. It was an unreasonably large bullet, one that went through the Kevlar of the bulletproof vest and his delicate outer chassis like butter. Gavin had already fallen into a temporary stasis as a response to the shock. 

Nines felt his stress level spike.

**P r0t3#cT &> 2o0 - ** **_G@ <*3N_ **

He didn't have to process the undiluted fear that slammed into his as he heard unmistakable noises of the guns being reloaded. Gavin wouldn't survive another hit from those. Hell, he might not survive the one he already received his scans supplied mockingly. His chances at survival resting at a meager 37.5%. 

Nines finally reacted after far too much hesitation. He grabbed Gavin and threw him over his shoulder. He felt his own biocomponents clench as he registered Gavin's thirium leaking into his uniform. 

Nines took a cooling breath and pulled out his own firearm and aimed quickly as he backtracked away from the muzzles of the deadly weaponry. He calculated the exact way he needed to aim to get the perfect shot and then fired at the first shooter. 

It was a direct hit as they collapsed next to their weapon.

Nines didn't hesitate as he repeated the process with the other active shooter. He knows he didn't kill either of them, but they wouldn't be firing their weapons anytime soon. 

Nines looked around and saw the other missing perp and pointed the gun at them, "surrender,  **_now!"_ ** Nines' voice boomed across the warehouse. 

They were smart for once and put their hands behind their head and dropped to their knees. Nines walked over to them and used his foot to make sure they didn't move and then cuffed them one-handed.

Nines stood back up and decided he didn't have time for this as his HUD was screaming at him about how Gavin's survival chances were plummeting to 32.45%. Nines had to act fast. 

He felt panic clawing up his throat as he started towards the exit. Making in a frantic call to the team that Gavin was down, though he sounded worlds calmer than he felt.

"You're… s-stress levels are t-too high, t-terminator," came the unnaturally wet sounding voice of Gavin.

Nines froze and moved Gavin from his shoulder into his arms gently, but as fast as he could. He didn't have words to respond to that. He barely noticed his stress levels had reached upwards of 80%, but that didn't matter as Gavin's were even higher.

Gavin smiled up at him, despite it all. "Hey, I've made it t-through w-worse." Then he reached out and with a shaky hand touched Nines' cheek. The gesture was meant to be reassuring. Nines was sure of that, but all he felt was panic. 

With the gentle contact, Nines couldn't control his reaction as his synth skin pulled back and his system reached out for a deeper comfort than physical. 

Gavin's processors weren’t anywhere as strong as Nines' were on a good day, let alone when he was bleeding out and on the verge of a shutdown.

Nines hadn't meant to start the interface, but he couldn't control how he reached into Gavin's conscience like a virus. 

He saw flashes of small smiles and felt an unbelievable warmth. He got glances into Gavin's HUD and his own personal missions, and in the same place where Nines kept his own desire to protect his partner, Gavin had the same.

**Keep RK900 - Richard "Nines" Safe**

Then he saw something he wished he hadn't not because it didn't fill him with so much warmth, but because he wasn't meant to see it.

**Tell RK900 - Richard "Nines" You Love Him**

He finally jerked his face away. The interface barely lasted a second, but it had been long enough to have stolen something so precious. Enough time for all his breath to have rushed out of his system. Long enough for Nines to know that Gavin felt the same about him as he did for the older model. He felt his thirium pump clench in his chest, even if something like that was impossible for his system to do. 

Then Gavin went limp in his arms, the stress causing him to return to emergency stasis. 

Nines gasped and realized he had to  _ move. _ He didn't have the luxury of time to ponder what he had just learned. 

Just as he exited the warehouse several other of the operatives from the mission rushed in to collect the perps that Gavin and Nines had subdued. 

Nines barely noticed them, he had to get Gavin to the repair kit. He was already vaguely aware that an Android ambulance was already on the way. The timer until it arrived mocking Nines as it was next to Gavin's expected time to shut down. They were too close for comfort if Nines didn't step in soon. 

Nines looked around and noted with a least a pleased undertone that the mission had been successful. He noticed that the SWAT teams were taking inventory of the large truck filled with commercial amounts of narcotics. The perps we're all being loaded up into police cars to be taking away for holding and questioning. 

It didn't seem like anyone else was injured, but then again Nines wasn't looking too hard either. He was just making a beeline towards the van with the emergency supplies.

He got there and gently laid the Android down and immediately started grabbing at supplies to get him stabilized until professional help got here. It wasn't as if Nines couldn't completely repair Gavin on his own, he just didn't have the supplies.

He was just starting to pour thirium down Gavin's throat as another officer showed up to help. It was Captain Allen.

"Nines, report. How's Gavin looking?" The captain asked as he started to remove Gavin's Kevlar vest. 

"He's in an emergency stasis and if untreated will shut down in 8 minutes and 52 seconds," Nines said in a clipped tone.

Allen nodded and had finally pulled off the vest and seen the large bullet that was jammed into the center-left of Gavin's torso. It had gone into through the back and pierced all the way through and it was sticking out the front. They both silently knew they couldn't remove it.

"What's the ambulance's ETA?" Allen asked as he grabbed some gel to slow the android's bleeding. 

"7 minutes and 15 seconds based on current traffic conditions," Nines said through gritted teeth. It would be too close of a call, but as Gavin's system accepted the fresh Thirium he shut downtime started to tick upwards making the dangerous gap wider.

"Fuck that's close," Allen whispered harshly as he pulled out a UV light and stabilized the gel. The SWAT Captain had been taking safety and first aid training for androids since the revolution very seriously and it was paying off at this moment as his help was actually useful. 

Nines nodded and looked at Gavin's estimated timer. 12 minutes and 37 seconds, but there was only so much they could do.

Nines scanned Gavin noticed with. Relief washed over him as he saw that the bleeding had stopped and Allen had been successful with his work. Nines felt a bit frazzled that he'd only managed to administer Gavin thirium. How could he do so poorly?

He was hit with flashes of Gavin slamming him out of the way of a bullet meant for him. A bullet he would have been 92.36% more likely to survive the impact than Gavin would. 

**_Tell RK900 - Richard "Nines" You Love Him_ **

The words flashed in his HUD reminding him of what he did. He was acting so selfishly and irrationally. He wasn't fit to care for this wonderful android he'd fallen for. 

"...Nines?" Allen's voice was soft. His face was washed in light red light and it wasn't from the ambulance that was still just under five minutes away. 

Nines looked up at the SWAT Captain and then he finally realized tears were pouring down his face. He blinked and felt them fall faster. He finally took a moment to look at his stress levels.

**STRESS LEVELS CRITICAL: 89% ^**

Nines winced at the number and started taking deep breaths. He would be useless like this. Fuck, if it went any higher he might end up in the ambulance with Gavin.

"That bullet was meant for me," Nines whispered as he kept looking at Gavin's vitals. He had stabilized as much as he could be. Now they just had to wait. The ambulance would make it here on time. 

Allen hissed a breath through his teeth. "Fuck," he reached out and rubbed at Nines back. It was an overly familiar gesture, but it calmed Nines down a few percentiles.

"I don't know why he did it. I would have been far more okay than he is now," Nines let the words fall from his mouth clumsily.

Allen nodded sagely, "sometimes emotions make us do crazy things for those we hold dear."

**_Tell RK900 - Richard "Nines" You Love Him_ **

Nines just nodded. He had nothing to say to that. He knew why Gavin had done it, and why he would have done the same for the smaller android. They loved each other, but the other hadn't known that the other felt the same. 

Then before anything else could be said, Nines finally heard the sirens in the distance. The ambulance was almost here. He adjusted his timer and was pleased to note they had gotten here an entire minute and 32 seconds faster than expected. 

Nines made the move to stand up but a small noise came from Gavin and he froze and his head snapped up to look at his partner. 

"Phck," Gavin said with a small vocal glitch, "god, this feels weird…" then he tried to move, probably wanting to sit up.

Nines moved quickly and gently stopped him and took Gavin's hands into his own. "hey, hey. Let's not be doing that. Help is almost here."

Allen took that moment to go meet the ambulance as they pulled into the parking lot, planning on guiding them to the damaged android.

Nines kept his focus on his partner. Gavin's LED was spinning a slow red, but that was to be expected when he had a foreign object lodged in his chassis and through his biocomponents.

"Glad you're okay, Ni," Gavin spoke up again. 

"Well, that makes one of us. You asshole," Nines said the words with no heat. 

Gavin let out a wet chuckle, "Hey, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission."

Nines let out his own wet chuckle, but this one included tears instead of blood in its wetness. "I don't know I can forgive you until you're okay again." 

Gavin smiled, though it was a weak little thing. "That's fair."

"Excuse us," said a soft voice of a female. One Nines recognized easily, it was Carol one of the Android Nurses that he'd seen more than his fair share. He considered her a friend. He trusted no one more to take care of Gavin and thanked the world for being kind to them in a small way that mattered.

"Of course, Carol," Nines timidly moved away. He didn't want to leave Gavin's side but his stats that were running in his HUD said staying out of the way was the best course of action. Despite the way it made his thirium pump skip pumps nervously. 

Gavin was loaded into the gurney easily, but as soon as they moved him he let out a hiss and slipped back into stasis. It would be easier for him that way as well.

Nines watched the whole time as he was loaded up and they started driving away sirens blazing as the ambulance with the bright blue paint started towards the nearest android emergency repair center. 

Nines took a few deep breaths when he couldn't hear the sirens anymore. 

"Captain Allen?" Nines spoke up into the quiet. Most of the other operatives and officers had already left to take in the perps and the evidence to be cataloged. So the narcotics unit could get started on dealing with the shipments. It would be a lot of work and they could stay behind and wait for one injured teammate. Except for the Captain of course.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride to the hospital," Allen said with a small wave.

"Thank you," Nines said softly. Then they both started on their way.

~

Nines was sitting in the waiting room. The android repair centers were very different from human hospitals as there weren't visiting hours because it was very rare for androids to need recovery time beyond their procedures. Unlike humans, they could get up after having major surgery such as having a limb replaced or a giant bullet removed from their torsos.

Humans took so much time to heal. Nines was thankful he would have to wait through the potential days and weeks of what-ifs and stress of wondering if a human Gavin would have lived through the procedure. Then again his data cruelly told him a human Gavin would have died in the warehouse. 

Nines was dwelling on what he could have done better. How he could have prevented this. He was keeping his idle processes occupied with these thoughts not letting them wander beyond that. 

Nines was so focused on his thoughts and preconstructions he hadn't noticed that company had joined him.

He felt a poke on his LED and then looked up with wide eyes.

"Your stress levels are too high, Terminator," Gavin said with a smirk.

"Gavin!" Nines gasped as relief flooded his system so suddenly he was dizzy with it. Before he knew it he scanned Gavin quickly to confirm he was in one piece and no longer damaged. When the scan came back clean, Nines wrapped his arms around Gavin and held his tightly. "I've been so worried about you."

Gavin chuckled and wrapped his arms back around Nines slowly and almost timidly. He even placed a few gentle pats on the much larger android's back. "Aw, you flatter me, big guy."

Nines pulled back and looked into Gavin's greyish green eyes and smiled. "You scared me half to death. You didn't have to take that bullet for me, you absolute moron."

Gavin flushed a light blue and broke eye contact from the intense gaze, "eh, what can I say. Never claimed to be smart. I'm just fast." 

Nines shook his head. "I don't think that of you," his voice went incredibly soft.

Gavin blinked and his LED blipped yellow in surprise at the softness. It wasn't uncommon, but it still warmed his cheeks every time it happened. "I know," he admitted softly, not sure what else to say.

There was a small silence as they stood in the waiting room of the hospital in the middle of the night. On the precipice of something profound, but neither of them sure if they wanted to cross that line.

"Gavin," Nines started and he left his stress spike a bit. He took the step. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry I interfaced with you like that. I hadn't meant to."

Gavin blinked and then shrugged, "Hey, we can't always control that shit. You seemed pretty stressed and I couldn't have kept you out as you found out anyway."

"That doesn't make it okay," Nines added quickly. "I feel like I've seen things you hadn't meant for me to know. Not yet, at least."

Gavin blinked and scrunched his eyebrows together. Clearly not understanding at first then his eyebrows shot into his hairline and his eyes widened as he connected the dots. "oh fuck," he said softly as his face turned dark blue. "Nines… I can explain."

Nines shook his head and smiled softly. The crooked one that Gavin once said he liked best. "You don't have to tell me. I'm not here to pressure you or anything like that. I just wanted to say," he chewed his lip and let his eyes drop to the floor, "after nearly losing you I almost don't get to tell you that I've felt the same way for a long time and wanted to make sure you knew."

Gavin didn't say anything and nothing happened for a few seconds and Nines felt like he fucked up terribly. But then he felt a hand on his cheek, just like earlier but no fear clouded the contact. Nines looked up and saw the softest look he'd ever seen on the battle-hardened android. "You love me?" Gavin whispered.

Nines nodded as he leaned into the touch, "more than anything."

"You dumbass," Gavin chuckled and Nines could see his eyes were a bit glossy. Then he leaned up and pressed his lips gently against Nines' in a sweet kiss.

Nines nearly short-circuited at the contact and the shear wave of emotion that came with it. He was only able to think again when Gavin gently pulled back.

"Nines, you know I love you too, right?" The words were soft and gentle as they were timidly let into the world.

Nines let out a soft laugh and he nodded, "I love you too."

Gavin chuckled and reached up with both hands and pulled Nines into a more all-consuming kiss with such a force that he stumbled a bit in the process of leaning down to meet him. 

They were both giggling into the kiss as Nines regained his balance. Then the larger android wrapped his arms around Gavin again and swept him off his feet and kissed him again, spinning him as humans did in those cheesy romance movies Gavin would never admit he loved so much.

Nines pulled apart but kept Gavin in his arms, "I love you so much." 

"I love you too," Gavin repeated as well and then he timidly used his hands on Nines face to ask for an interface. This one both of them letting it happen with soft smiles on their faces.

~~**Tell RK900 - Richard "Nines" You Love Him** ~~

**Love RK900 - Richard "Nines"**


End file.
